“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought . . .” – Romans 12:3
For most of his adult life my dad owned and operated a small town Coca-Cola bottling operation. This was back in the days when such operations were the primary means by which soft drinks were produced and distributed, and most notably when soft drink beverages were sold in six-ounce returnable bottles made of thick glass (relics that are now collectors’ items) that were filled through an assembly line process that began by feeding the returned empty bottles into a “soaker” machine where they were cleaned and sterilized before being refilled, capped, and repackaged into wooden cases for distribution. That was the process in a nutshell.
My dad took his business seriously enough and ran a tight ship, except he had a penchant for mischief from time to time. On one occasion he had come out of his office to check on the production line when he noticed a firecracker in one of the wooden crates. (It was not uncommon for returned bottles and crates to be stuffed with trash such as used tissues and cigarette butts.) It so happened that when he spied that firecracker he happened to be standing behind Ida Mae, one of the production line workers – and no stranger to pulling pranks on others, including my dad – so he quickly took advantage of a payback opportunity by lighting the firecracker and tossing toward Ida Mae’s feet. You can imagine how high she must have jumped when it went off! But by that time Daddy had slipped back into his office and was sitting at his desk doubled over laughing, while the profanity that spewed from Ida Mae got directed at some poor innocent bystander.
Make no mistake, my dad was the boss and everyone knew and respected that, including me during the several summers I worked at the plant. But he tried to use his authority appropriately, to direct, and correct when necessary, and on rare occasions to fire when someone stepped too far over the line. He also used his authority in ways to encourage and promote others, and to genuinely show concern for them. Mostly my dad’s attitude toward his employees was the same he had toward his family and friends, that we are all human beings going through life together, that we should strive to “live in harmony with one another,” as the Apostle Paul said, “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn,” and ultimately “do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,” and that sometimes even an appropriately timed friendly prank can promote harmony.